Adynaton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Adynata)

Template:Short description

Adynaton (/ˌædɪˈnɑːtɒn, -tən/;[1] plural adynata) is a figure of speech in the form of hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths as to insinuate a complete impossibility:[2]

I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand than he shall get one on his cheek.[3]

The word derives from the Greek ἀδύνατον (adunaton), neuter of ἀδύνατος (adunatos), "unable, impossible" (a-, "without" + dynasthai, "to be possible or powerful").[4]

Classical and medieval usage

Adynaton was a widespread literary and rhetorical device during the Classical Period. In the Eclogue of Plutarch, there is a long list of proverbs and the first section is titled ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΔΥΝΑΤΩΝ, consisting of proverbs that are built on adynaton.[5] The adynaton form was often used for vows and covenants, such as in the 16th Epode of Horace, 25-34.

Its plural form (adynata) was translated in Latin as impossibilia. A frequent usage was to refer to one highly unlikely event occurring sooner than another:

Page Template:Blockquote/styles.css has no content.

One can expect an agreement between philosophers sooner than between clocks.

— Seneca, The Pumpkinification of Claudius

Zenobius's collection of proverbial expressions includes "to count sand" to characterize something impossible or unattainable.[6]

However, it largely fell into disuse during the Middle Ages before undergoing a minor revival in the works of romantic poets, who would boast of the power of their love, and how it could never end.

Page Template:Blockquote/styles.css has no content.

Together, we shall sooner see, I, & you, The Rhône tarry, & reverse its course, The Saône roil, & return to source, Than this my fire ever die down

— Maurice Scève

Fiction, folklore and drama

Adynata are sometimes used within works of fiction or drama:

Page Template:Blockquote/styles.css has no content.

Part heat from fire, then, by that notion,
Part frost from snow, wet from the ocean!
Ask less!

— Henrik Ibsen, Brand

Impossible tasks appear often in legends and folklore, and can form elements of ballads, riddles and proverbs. Examples include the tale of "The Spinning-Woman by the Spring",

Modern usage

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Some modern adynata include:

  • In Bulgarian: когато цъфнат налъмите (kogato tsâfnat nalâmite, "when clogs blossom")[7] and когато върбата роди круши (kogato vârbata rodi krushi, "when pears grow on a willow tree").[8] koga se pokači svinja s z´´lti čehli na krusa (when the pig in yellow slippers climbs the pear tree)[9]
  • in Dutch: Als Pasen en Pinksteren op één dag vallen ("when Easter and Pentecost fall on the same day");[10] from a poem by Gerrit Komrij: "Eer maakt men lakens wit met inkt (...) dan dat ik (...) zeg wat ik thans lijden moet" ("Bedsheets will be bleached with ink before I speak of my cares"). "Op St. Juttemis" ("On St. Jutmas", i.e. the feast day of a nonexistent saint)
  • In Egyptian Arabic: بكرة في المشمش (bukra fil mish-mish, "tomorrow when the apricots bloom")[11][12]
  • In English: When pigs fly!,[13] and Not before Hell freezes over![14] and its derivative A snowball's chance in hell.[15] When the moon turns to green cheese.[9]
  • in Finnish: kun lehmät lentävät ("when cows fly") or kun lipputanko kukkii ("when flagpole blossoms") [16]
  • In French: Quand les poules auront des dents ("When hens grow teeth"), La semaine des quatre jeudis ("The week of the four Thursdays") .[17] "À la St. Glinglin" (on the feast day of the nonexistent St. Glinglin); "Aux calendes grecques" (on the Greek Kalendae, which of course only existed on the Roman calendar)
  • In German: Wenn Schweine fliegen könnten ("When pigs can fly"); Wenn Ostern und Weihnachten zusammenfallen ("When Easter and Christmas coincide")[18]
  • In modern Greek: “The fly ate iron” [19]
  • In Hungarian: majd ha piros hó esik ("when it's snowing red")[20]
  • In Italian: Quando gli asini voleranno ("When donkeys fly").[21]
  • In Latvian: Kad pūcei aste ziedēs ("When an owl's tail blooms")[22]
  • In Levantine Arabic: لما ينوّر الملح (lamma ynawwer al-malħ), ("when salt blooms")[23]
  • In Malay: Tunggu kucing bertanduk ("when cats grow horns").[24]
  • In Malayalam: "കാക്ക മലർന്നു പറക്കും (kākka malarnnu paṟakkuṃ)" ("When [the] crow will fly upside down").[25]
  • In Persian: vaght-e gol-e ney ("when bamboo blossoms") [26]
  • In Polish: Prędzej mi kaktus na dłoni wyrośnie ("Sooner the cactus grows on my palm.").
  • In Portuguese: quando as galinhas tiverem dentes ("when hens grow teeth"),[27] nem que a vaca tussa ("not even if the cow coughs"),[28] nem que chovam canivetes ("not even if it rains penknives"), no dia de São Nunca à tarde ("in the afternoon of St. Never's day").[29]
  • in Romanian: La Paştele Cailor ("on horses' Easter")[30]
  • In Russian: когда рак на горе свистнет (kogdá rak na goré svístnet, "when the crawfish whistles on the mountain").[31]
  • In Serbian or Croatian: kad na vrbi rodi grožđe ("when grapes grow on a willow").[32]
  • In Slovak: keď budú padať traktory ("when tractors will fall") or na svätého dindi ("On St. Dindi" probably taken from French.)
  • In Spanish: cuando las vacas vuelen ("when cows fly"),[33] cuando los chanchos vuelen ("when pigs fly"), cuando las ranas críen pelo ("when frogs grow hair").[34]
  • In Sumerian: “My ox will provide milk for you!”[35]
  • in Swedish: två torsdagar i veckan ("two Thursdays in the same week"). It is also said as "two Sundays in the same week", but other weekdays are rarely used.[36]
  • In Turkish: balık kavağa çıkınca ("when fish climb poplar trees").[37]
  • In Uyghur as spoken in Xinjiang: “To avoid hurting my friend’s feelings, I got pregnant” (said by a male).[38]

See also

Page Template:Div col/styles.css has no content.

Citations

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."adynaton". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-11-26.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stephen Cushman; Clare Cavanagh; Jahan Ramazani; Paul Rouzer (26 August 2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4008-4142-4. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  3. ^ Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2
  4. ^ ἀδύνατος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  5. ^ p. 390. Rowe, Gary. 1965. The adynaton as a stylistic device. The American Journal of Philology 85.4:387-396.
  6. ^ William F. Hansen, Ariadne's Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature, p. 98
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Keti Nicheva (1987). Bŭlgarska frazeologii︠a︡. Nauka i izkustvo. p. 99. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.M. Leonidova (1986). Problemy strukturno-semanticheskoĭ tipologii bolgarskikh i russkikh frazelogizmov. Gos. izd-vo Narodna Prosveta. p. 155. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  9. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."15 - Phraseologisms". LOGOS – Multilingual Translation Portal. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Leon Gillet. Spaans Idiomaticum Herbekeken. Spaans-Nederlands. Academia Press. pp. 185–. ISBN 978-90-382-1141-1. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Al Qasimi, Nouf. "There's an old Arabic proverb: You can have apricots tomorrow". The National. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Al Qasimi, Nouf. "Mish Mish". Jewish Film Institute. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Christine Ammer (1997). The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin. p. 709. ISBN 978-0-395-72774-4. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Paul Heacock (22 September 2003). Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-521-53271-6. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  15. ^ The Free Dictionary - not have a snowball's chance in hell. Retrieved on 2013-07-15.
  16. ^ kun lehmät lentävät - Sivistyssanakirja, synonyymit - Suomi Sanakirja. Suomisanakirja.fi. Retrieved on 2013-05-27.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Roy Fuller (1 January 2000). Animal Idioms. Presses Univ. du Mirail. p. 122. ISBN 978-2-85816-539-1. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Derrick De Kerckhove; Martina Leeker; Kerstin Schmidt (2008). McLuhan neu lesen: Kritische Analysen zu Medien und Kultur im 21. Jahrhundert. transcript Verlag. p. 485. ISBN 978-3-89942-762-2. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  19. ^ p. 125. Marketos, Babēs I., ed. A Proverb for it: 1510 Greek Sayings. New World Publishers, 1945.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Éva Szabó (2005). Hungarian Practical Dictionary: Hungarian-English, English-Hungarian. Hippocrene Books. p. 431. ISBN 978-0-7818-1068-5. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Matthew Lawry (25 July 2012). The Phonetic Guide to Italian: Learn Italian in about a Year. AuthorHouse. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-4772-1927-0. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Dzidra Kalnin̦a (2003). Angl̦u-latviešu, latviešu-angl̦u vārdnīca. Avots. ISBN 978-9984-700-90-8. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."لمّا ينوّر الملح". فلسطين أون لاين (in العربية). 2023-04-04. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ainon binti Mohd & Abdullah bin Hassan (2005). Kamus Peribahasa Kontemporari - Edisi Ke-2. PTS Professional. p. 431. ISBN 978-983-3376-38-4. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kattakada. "Malayalam Adynation". Wikisource. Wikimedia. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."معنی وقت گل نی | واژه‌نامه آزاد". www.vajehyab.com.
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cristina Mourón Figueroa; Teresa Moralejo Gárate (1 January 2006). Studies in Contrastive Linguistics: Proceedings of the 4th International Contrastive Linguistics Conference, Santiago de Compostela, September, 2005. Univ Santiago de Compostela. p. 361. ISBN 978-84-9750-648-9. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Azussa Matsuoka; Luciene Ferreira da Silva Guedes (November 2009). "Análise das construções idiomáticas negativas enfáticas" (PDF). Gatilho (in Portuguese). Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mark G. Nash; Willians Ramos Ferreira (2009). Michaelis Dicionário de Expressões Idiomáticas (Dictionary). Editora Melhoramentos. p. 151. when pigs fly Amer dit (...) Algo como: 'quando a galinha criar dentes'; no dia de São Nunca.
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mioara Avram; Marius Sala (2000). May We Introduce the Romanian Language to You?. Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishing House. p. 157. ISBN 978-973-577-224-6. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Agnes Arany-Makkai (1 September 1996). Russian Idioms. Barron's. p. 222. ISBN 9780812094367. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  32. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Željko Bujas (1999). English-Croatian dictionary. Globus. p. 487. ISBN 9789531670784. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  33. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rafael Ordozgoiti de la Rica; Ignacio Pérez Jiménez (1 January 2003). Imagen de marca. ESIC Editorial. p. 147. ISBN 978-84-7356-342-0. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  34. ^ “Cuando la rana eche pelos”… ¡y realmente lo hizo! ~ Culturizando. Culturizando.com. Retrieved on 2013-05-27.
  35. ^ p. 15, Gordon, Edmund I. "Sumerian Animal Proverbs and Fables:" Collection Five"(Conclusion)." Journal of Cuneiform Studies 12, no. 2 (1958): 43-75.
  36. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hjalmar Bergman (1952). Samlade skrifter: Farmor och vår herre. Bonnier. p. 137. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  37. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hacettepe University journal of the Faculty of Letters. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi. 2001. p. 50. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  38. ^ p. 6. Fiddler, Michael. "Friends, enemies, and fools: A collection of Uyghur proverbs." GIALens 11.3: (2017)1-15.

References and further reading

  • Some Notes on the Adynaton in Medieval Literature
  • Ronald Grambo, Adynaton Symbols in Proverbs. A Few Fragmentary Remarks (pp. 456–458). Proverbium 15. Helsinki 1970.
  • Martti Haavio, Omöjlighetssymboler i finsk epik (pp. 73-83). Sed och Sägen 1956.
  • Myers, J., Wukasch, D. Dictionary of poetic terms Script error: No such module "webarchive"..
  • Henrik Ibsens Skrifter Brand. Peer Gynt. Universitetet i Oslo. H. Aschehoug & Co. (William Nygaard). Oslo 2007. Template:ISBN.
  • Opata, D. "Adynaton Symbols in Igbo Proverbial Usage." Lore & Languages, VI (1) (1987): 51–57.

Template:Figures of speech

Retrieved from "https://cosmopedia.co/index.php?title=Adynaton&oldid=4722174"